Gonzales v. Oregon: Physician-Assisted Suicide and the Controlled Substances Act

Publication Date: October 2005

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Law and ethics

Type:

Coverage: Oregon

Abstract:

The State of Oregon's Death with Dignity Act (DWDA) is the first and only state law in the nation that legalizes physician-assisted suicide. The DWDA permits Oregon physicians to prescribe a lethal dose of medication to mentally competent, terminally ill patients, who then may voluntarily elect to hasten their death.

Under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), a federal law that regulates the legal and illicit manufacture, distribution, and possession of drugs, a physician may prescribe controlled substances to patients only for a "legitimate medical purpose." In 2001, then-U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft issued a memorandum in which he declared that physician-assisted suicide is not a "legitimate medical purpose" for prescribing federally controlled substances. The "Ashcroft Directive" means that any Oregon doctor who prescribes drugs pursuant to the DWDA would be in violation of the federal CSA, and risks losing his or her privilege to prescribe drugs and possibly face criminal prosecution.

On November 7, 2001, the State of Oregon, an Oregon physician and pharmacist, and several terminally ill patients filed a lawsuit to prevent the enforcement of the Ashcroft Directive. A federal district court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held the Directive invalid and unenforceable because Congress did not authorize the Attorney General to determine that physician-assisted suicide is not a legitimate medical purpose under the CSA. These courts determined that Congress did not intend for the CSA to override a state's traditional power to regulate the practice of medicine.

Attorney General Ashcroft appealed the Ninth Circuit's decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. Alberto Gonzales had replaced John Ashcroft as Attorney General by the time the Court agreed to review the case. On October 5, 2005, the Supreme Court heard the parties' oral argument. The Court in Gonzales v. Oregon is to decide whether the CSA authorizes the Attorney General to prohibit the distribution of federally controlled substances for purposes of facilitating an individual's suicide, regardless of Oregon's law authorizing such distribution.

This report will be updated after the Supreme Court issues its decision.